The Fields Medal, often called the Nobel Prize of math, has been awarded this year to Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to win the prestigious honor in the prize's 78 years.

Maryam Mirzakhani

"This is a great honor," said Mirzakhani on the website for Stanford University, where she is a mathematics professor. "I will be happy if it encourages young female scientists and mathematicians. I am sure there will be many more women winning this kind of award in coming years."

She studied math as an undergraduate at Sharif University of Technology in Iran, before beginning a doctorate at Harvard University under the mentorship of another Fields Medal recipient, Curtis McMullen.

Mirzakhani's math specialty lies in pure mathematics, which involves abstract math concepts and has implications for physics theory. (By contrast, applied mathematics is more often used in engineering and computer science work.) Her Fields Medal award-winning work specifically focuses on her contributions to the understanding the symmetry of curved surfaces, such as spheres.

The 37-year-old professor lives in the Bay Area with her husband and 3-year-old daughter. The Fields Medal, first established in 1936, is awarded every four years at the International Congress of Mathematicians, and was awarded this week at a ceremony in Seoul, South Korea.

]]>http://readwrite.com/2014/08/18/fields-medal-woman-maryam-mirzakhanihttp://readwrite.com/2014/08/18/fields-medal-woman-maryam-mirzakhaniMon, 18 Aug 2014 14:03:00 GMTEditor's note: This post was originally published by our partners at PopSugar Tech.

Across the street from the National September 11 Memorial & Museum now resides the tallest building in the United States, One World Trade Center. Thanks to its 408-foot long spire, the skyscraper reaches 1,776 feet, soaring beyond the Willis Tower in Chicago.

Photographer Benjamin Rosamond had a front-row view to the tower's construction as it began its ascent into the Manhattan skyline and did what any person with this amazing view would do—mount a camera to their living room window and record as a feat of modern engineering unfolds in front of them. Construction of the building was met with countless delays, with the exterior completed in 2013, seven years after concrete was first poured.

Benjamin had the cameras pointed at the skyline from February 2011 to July 2014, amassing somewhere between 30,000 to 50,000 total photos, which he whittled down to the 1,100 photos you see here for the sake of time (and possibly sanity). Plus, these included the best-looking shots, usually taken shortly after sunrise, when the colors of the buildings and sky are most picturesque. In addition to the living room camera, he occasionally set up one on a tripod on his bathroom—can we have that bathroom view?!—with a long lens to zoom in on specifics of the scene.

And that gorgeous twilight and evening finale to the tower's construction? That's comprised of photos from just one sunrise and one sunset, where you can see the literal passage of time with the glowing hands of the clock tower to the right off One World Trade Center. In fact, Benjamin told us, that in itself is the beauty of time lapse: "It shows progress that is not visibly obvious to the naked eye ... it highlights the changes that happen too slowly to notice in real time."

Editor's note: This post was originally published by our partners at PopSugar Tech.

As 3D printers move from futuristic toy to a viable industry in themselves, most of us are still wondering exactly what sort of everyday function the technology will bring. Maybe, though, the future of 3D printing doesn't have to have concrete applications, though we've already seen plenty of that; perhaps it'll be an art form.

Like, that is, in the new music video from the Australian electronic band Cut/Copy for its new track "We Are Explorers." The video includes a 3D-printed object—which can be yours!—in each and every frame. Through a partnership with BitTorrent, fans can download the video as well as the 3D print files for each character in the film.

The video uses over 200 3D-printed figurines, which were used by the filmmakers to represent the eight different motions the characters are seen in through the course of the video, including walking, running, sitting, and standing. While the "We Are Explorers" video incorporates the latest technology in the form of the 3D printing, the directors—Masa Kawamura, Qanta Shimizu, and Aramique Krauthamer—wanted the adventures of the characters to feel real, which is why it's shot outside, among city streets, sewers, and freeways, to give a feeling of "being tiny in a huge, overwhelming world."

While Cut/Copy's full album Free Your Mind can be purchased on iTunes, that magical 3D movie can only be unlocked with the BitTorrent Bundle. But all that extra downloading and unzipping effort is worth it for wannabe filmmakers and early-technology adopters. Included in the bundle are print files for every form and movement the two explorer characters take on, so fans can create their own versions of the explorations.

Hidden within the BitTorrent files is also an instructional PDF for 3D printing including resources to find printers in your area, along with directions on how to record the characters so their actions fit in a stop motion video also in sync with the beats per minute of "We Are Explorers." Esteemed director, here you come!

Editor's note: This post was originally published by our partners at PopSugar Tech.

Reading the entire Harry Potter series in a week—could it be possible?! Spritz, a new app that debuted at last month's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, wants to reinvent how you read and get you bolting through books while you do it. It will be loaded on Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Gear 2 smartwatch devices as an email app that moves away from scrolling, swiping, and pinching by streaming words one at a time at the user's reading speed.

Spritz's technology streams words individually using a display called a Redicle, which keeps the eye centered on the same place as each new word appears. According to Spritz's research, the most time-consuming part of reading is the act of the eye moving from word to word across the page. In aligning the word, as seen in the nearby example, the brain and eye don't have to waste time processing movement and can get on to the reading. Finally conquer A Song of Ice and Fire!

In addition to English, Spritz supports Spanish, French, German, Russian, and Korean, and is working on getting the app to customers beyond the new Samsung gadgets soon. If you need to get kick-start your reading time now, read on for more apps that'll have you zooming through books.

Velocity

As its name suggests, Velocity ($3) wants to push your reading time to superhuman levels. The app, specifically made for the iOS 7 interface, also uses a one-word-at-a-time approach, but it's the integration into the iPhone ecosystem that we love. Avid users of Instapaper and Pocket can speed read the articles saved in those services through Velocity, so you can perfect this habit with materials that'll captivate you.

Speed Reading Trainer

Androidians, the free Speed Reading Trainer promises to get you up to 500 words per minute in two weeks. Continue to check your progress as you increase read times with the app's diagnostic tool.

Acceleread

Turn your speed-reading practice into a game with Acceleread (iOS, free with in-app upgrades starting at $5), which lets you create measurable goals within its training course program. Receive gold stars and trophies when you reach reading goals and track your progress with charts that show your current speed, highest speed, and average speed. It's for the speed-reading data hound!

Editor's note: This post was originally published by our partners at PopSugar Tech.

Winter is in full effect, and you may not realize it, but freezing temps can be just as dangerous—if not more so—to gadgets as the summer heat since there are hidden dangers you can't see. Check out these six winter-weather tips that will help ensure your gadgets see the light of spring this year.

Keep them out of the trunk: Keep your laptops, cell phones, and tablets out of the trunk for extended periods during cold days to prevent damage to screens and to keep your hard drive from freezing.

If you must trunk it, keep it bundled up: If you absolutely must leave your gear in your car in freezing temps, wrap it up in layers—like a jacket or sweater—to keep it warm. You can also find laptop warmers (which are specifically made for laptops) to keep them from getting icy if you live in cold conditions.

Turn them off: Letting your laptop or tablet remain in sleep mode may keep it warmer (since it is still working), but it also increases your chances of damage if you're on the move. Be sure to power down all the way to keep your data safe.

Warm up before booting up: If your machine is on the cold side, let it warm up to room temps slowly before turning it on. This will keep condensation and dew at bay, which can ruin your computer's sensitive guts.

Carry a charger: Cold weather sucks the life out of your batteries, so be sure to carry extra chargers in your car for emergencies.

Watch out for sensitive screens: Cold weather makes a smartphone screen extra sensitive, so be sure to keep it close to your bod if you're out in the snow, or consider a warm accessory—like a smartphone wallet, sock, or sleeve—to keep it cozy.

Editor's note: This post was originally published by our partners at PopSugar Tech.

The 65th International Frankfurt Motor Show highlights what we'll be seeing on roads in coming years, but it also gives a look into car designers' minds and what we may see driving down the street much further down the line. The ideas, forms, and technology seen in concept cars later make their way onto the roads, albeit in a much less fancy presentation, like an overall color motif or a rounded exterior.

They're not "Jetsons"-style flying cars, but here, the vehicles we want to get behind the wheel of ... today.

Volvo P1800

In a remake of its classic '60s-era P1800 model, Volvo's new concept coupe returns to a retro design, but is tricked out with the most modern of features. The gear shift is remade in crystal, giving it space-age feel, especially when paired with the touchscreen digital console pushed back to integrate with the driver's dashboard for a less distracting package. A plug-in hybrid engine reduces gas consumption, and hopefully reduces our payments at the pump.

Lexus LF-NX

Your current car is lacking a certain aesthetic: the Transformers look. The Lexus LF-NX has an exterior like you've never seen before in an SUV. Sharp angles meet on the hood as diamond-shaped LED headlamps and a touch-enabled console. Remember the days you thought an iPhone audio port was cool?

Mercedes Concept S-Class Coupe

What Mercedes-Benz calls "sensual clarity" is an aesthetic about sublime lines that have you dreaming of calm days on the water. The Concept S-Class Coupe's bright white interior is highlighted by fluid lines of blue ambient lighting. Like the S-Classes currently for sale, the concept has a 12.3-inch touchscreen display and a distinct separation from the leather-wrapped lower half of the dashboard. As long as someone's driving us, we'll gladly dream away in the interior that feels like a vision from the future.

Nissan Nismo Smartwatch

The auto industry isn't just looking at the future of cars anymore, it's merging wearable tech gadgets with the driving experience. Nissan's Nismo Watch is intended to work alongside Nissan Nismo cars, the motorsports and performance division of the auto manufacturer.

The watch uses a smartphone app to connect the driver to the car, making use of a heartbeat monitor on the watch that can use that biometric data to suggest, hey, maybe slow it down there, speed demon. The watch can also tell the driver what's happening with the vehicle itself, sending performance data while driving. Though the watch is part of Nissan's Nismo Lab creating technology as used by athletes, it shows uses of wearable tech far beyond the pedometer.

Smart Fourjoy

With no doors or windows, the Smart Fourjoy wouldn't make for the most practical auto purchase; rather, the company used the model as a chance to show off some of the designs to expect from its first-ever four-seat model expected to be released at the end of 2014. The bucket-style seats seem to be taken from a lounge in 2040, and the dashboard has space for two smartphones — because the car of the future needs to be hip and fair to the musical tastes of both driver and passenger.

Editor's note: This post was originally published by our partners at PopSugar Tech.

Scientists and engineers from the Mars Curiosity rover team took to Reddit this week to answer just about every question Redditors have long been waiting to ask. In honor of the one-year anniversary of Curiosity's Martian landing, the group of women (cheers to the ladies in science!) covered everything from humans on Mars to a typical day for the rover to the biggest discoveries yet. Here, the most striking facts about the rover and her (yes, apparently Curiosity identifies as female) 12 months spent on the Red Planet.

What has been the most significant discovery so far?

"The results from our first rock drilling told us that the past environment, when that mudstone rock formed, was suitable for life. The mudstone formed in an ancient river system or an intermittently wet lake bed that could have provided the chemical energy and other favorable conditions for microbial life, if life existed then. This ancient wet environment was not harshly oxidizing, acidic or extremely salty. All the necessary chemical building blocks were available." — Joy Crisp, Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Deputy Project Scientist

Will Curiosity ever be in the presence of a human again?

"NASA does plan to send humans to Mars in the future, but it is unlikely we would send them to check out the existing rovers on the surface. Too many other interesting places to explore. Mars has the surface area of Earth, minus the oceans." — Sarah Marcotte, Mars Public Engagement

If conditions were good for life, why has no hard evidence been found to show that life did exist there in the past?

What happened to all of the water that used to be there? "Over millions of years the water evaporated because the atmosphere got too thin to support it in liquid form. Mars does not have a global magnetic field the way Earth does, which helps shield the atmosphere from [being] stripped away by the sun's damaging radiation. So while there is plenty of CO2 and H2O ice, no liquid is possible. If life arose on Mars, it would have been millions or even billions of years ago, and preserving evidence of life for billions of years is very hard. So the evidence could be there and we haven't found it, or life didn't arise. We have to find out!" — Sarah Marcotte

Could Curiosity be drilling through Martian bacteria without anyone knowing it due to its strange shape or composition?

"We believe that all forms of life will share basic chemical components which the rover can detect, even if they have been sitting around Mars for billions of years. Curiosity [is] not designed to find extant life, but is designed to find those building blocks of life, carbon, nitrogen, O2, sulfur, etc." — Sarah Marcotte

How advanced would you say Curiosity is in terms of its current A.I. capabilities (Perhaps compared to Google's self-driving car)?

Do you envision a near future possibility that we could deploy a sentient rover on Mars? "Curiosity has autonomous driving capabilities which are constantly being improved. However, for the first year we drive very carefully by using humans to review the pictures and choose the path across Mars. Curiosity has systems to keep herself safe if she thinks it will run over a cliff. However, when we have a far distance to travel and don't plan on checking out every interesting rock, Curiosity will be able to pick a way point and get herself there." — Sarah Marcotte

What type of fuel does Curiousity use?

"Curiosity has an MMRTG (Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator) that provides about 100W of power continuously along with a Lithium Ion battery that has ~80 AHr capacity. That's enough energy to keep us awake and heating/operating for about six to eight hours per day depending on what we're doing." — Jennifer Trosper, MSL Deputy Project Manager

A view of the Gale Crater from Curiosity's perspective

How did you come up with the rover's charming personality for Twitter and Facebook?

"Curiosity had the benefit of learning a lot from a previous Twitter account for @MarsPhoenix (2008). It was obvious during @MarsPhoenix that using first person was the best way to go. People were more responsive to the first person and it was easier to fit tweets into 140 characters. Curiosity is a mashup of personalities from three of us working together to do the posts each day. We want to make it fun but educational and interactive." — Veronica McGregor, Curiosity Social Media Team

What does the average day entail for an employee working on the Mars Curiosity Rover Mission?

"I am on Curiosity mission operations. In the beginning of the mission my average day involved setting my alarm clock 40 min later each day so I could stay on Curiosity's schedule. Now, we are on more of a normal schedule. I come into mission ops each morning to take a look at all of the data as it comes down. I analyze the data to understand the health of the rover mechanisms. The team uses this information to plan the next days activities. When I'm done with assessments for the day I typically work in the testbed with Curiosity's twin testing new software updates." — Megan Richardson, Mechanisms Downlink Engineer

What's the programming language is used to control the rover?

"C and C++ using the VxWorks OS running on a RAD 750 processor." — Jennifer Trosper

The JPL women behind this week's Reddit AMA.

What is the Curiosity team's most common degrees and educational background?

"Mechanical engineering seems to be the majority in the room but we have a scientist and some communications majors too!" — Carolina Martinez, Mars Public Engagement

"Most of our team that builds the rover are engineers: mechanical, software, aerospace, electrical, etc. A lot of the team that operates the rover are scientists: geologists, imaging scientists." — Jennifer Trosper

Editor's note: This post was originally published by our partners at PopSugar Tech.

"The day someone says 'Let's stop exploring,' we might as well move back into the cave, because that's where we'll land," astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson told us in regard to why his latest project, the return of science show Cosmos, is such an important milestone for TV, and Americans as a whole.

It's been 33 years since Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage first aired on PBS and turned viewers' sights to the infinite universe, and the upcoming Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey picks up where its predecessor left off, focusing on the story of the universe, and making these concepts accessible to a mainstream audience with a taste for Hollywood-style special effects.

Cosmos has left such an impression even decades after its initial release due to the format of the show. It "wasn't simply opening up science books and teaching pages ripped from it," Neil said during a Comic-Con press session. "It spent time learning, exploring how to make science matter to you as a human being, as a citizen, as a species with a capacity to reflect upon its own existence."

The new Cosmos comes with a renown science and entertainment pedigree, counting Ann Druyan, co-writer of the first Cosmos series alongside her late husband Carl Sagan, as a writer, along with director of photographer Bill Pope, known for his work in the Matrix trilogy, producer Brannon Braga, a Star Trek: The Next Generation alum, and Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane as an executive producer. The involvement of a comedian known for his crass jokes may seem surprising, but with his influence at Fox, Seth was the driving force behind bringing Cosmos to its 8 p.m. Sunday night spot beginning February 2014 on the network, and has included references to the original show in an episode of Family Guy. In fact, Ann recounted a conversation with Seth in which he told her that with the exception of this parents, no two people besides herself and Carl have had as much influence on his life.

It's with the big studio backing, that the show is able to include blockbuster-scale visual effects that blend "graphic novel"-style animations with space photos provided by NASA, and virtual sensations. As seen in the trailer above, Neil travels with viewers through locations in the universe. An impressive scene Brannon said they're still working on shows "Neil on Mars, but as seen through the point of view of a rover. It's following him around and handing him a rock, doing all this cool stuff."

Bringing the story of space and time is a deep passion of all those involved we spoke with during Comic-Con, which all but guarantees it gets translated to the show. "I have high expectations that it will change the mood of the country, so people will come to value science," Neil said. Based on the crowd that greeted Neil, Ann, and Brannon during the Cosmos panel in one of Comic-Con's biggest event rooms, the Indigo Ballroom, it's a passion many viewers will hold as well. The group was met with standing ovations both when they entered and exited the stage, showing a fan base to rival the Hollywood mainstays in Hall H, and seemed ready to take on science exploration.

For more from the Cosmos panel, check out this recap, complete with typical Neil deGrasse Tyson humor:

Editor's note: This post was originally published by our partners at PopSugar Tech.

Instagram is the easy way to create dreamy camera-phone photos in a flash. The filters work their magic so well that nearly every picture comes out looking like a keepsake. Making those memories permanent can be just as easy with these tools for turning Instagram photos into lasting works of art.

Printstagram—The company offers multiple ways to print Instagram photos, but the 20-by-40-inch posters will make a stunning addition to a living room wall. Between 50-400 photos are arranged in a clean grid on thick archival paper for $25. Fill a Tiny Book ($10 for a set of three) with miniature prints of favorite photos, or the Polaroid-style miniprints ($12 for 48 prints, pictured above) have wide enough borders to double as note cards.

PostalPix—Use this iPhone app to print four-inch squares from your Instagram library for only 30 cents each. Other sizes are also available, including two-, five-, and eight-inch-square prints. Fast shipping, a matte finish, professional-quality resolution, and the convenience of mobile shopping make this our first stop for basic Instagram prints.

Blurb—Haven't looked at a photo album in a while? Blurb brings back what now seems like an antiquated way of sharing photos with a modern, Instagram twist. Softcover books with 60 pages of Instagram photos run $19, and a hardcover is $32.

Artifact Uprising—For a stunning addition to your home, we love the options from Artifact Uprising, which incorporates reclaimed pinewood from its own Colorado backyard. Clipboard calendars ($25, pictured above) with a print for each month are serene for a workstation, and the wood block plus 12 prints ($22) creates a changeable photo display.

Instagoodies—Print favorite Instagram photos into books of one-inch stickers ($14). Attach stickers to the computer monitor, phone case, or wallet for a quick flash of happiness.

Boo Box by Hatchcraft—For photos worthy of the mantelpiece, go for the Boo Box, which places four-inch Instagram photos in bamboo shadowbox frames beginning at $20.

Stickygram—Take a cue from your mom, and turn your refrigerator into bragging grounds for your works of art. For $15, Stickygram makes a set of nine photo magnets from your favorite images.

ImageSnap—This service crafts ceramic tiles ranging from two-inch ($4) to 12-inch ($35) squares. Tiles can be installed with mortar and grout just like normal tiles, though the tiny sizes make for perfect refrigerator magnets.

Artflakes—Images get sticky with this company that takes your regular ol' Instagram pics and whips them into vinyl four-inch stickers (pictured above). Buy them up in packs of 10 ($21), 25 ($42), or 50 ($63).

Editor's note: This post was originally published by our partners at PopSugar Tech.

Over a year after posting a call for astronaut applications, NASA introduced the 2013 astronaut candidate class on Monday, half of which are female, the highest percentage ever selected in one group by NASA. Over 6,300 people applied for the eight available positions, which begin training Aug.1 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, home of the astronaut corps and Mission Control.

This marks the 21st class of NASA astronaut candidates, all of whom had to undergo a rigorous interview process that included medical, language aptitude, and mobility tests. The eight individuals will join the current 49 active NASA astronauts in the organization's future pursuit of the first manned mission to an asteroid in the 2020 decade, with the goal of one day putting humans on Mars.

Currently, the US astronauts' main mission is supporting the global efforts of the International Space Station.

As a NASA representative said during a Google+ Hangout to introduce the eight candidates, the four women chosen were not deliberately selected to represent an equal gender pool, rather they were the most qualified group of people, and a "tribute to women today." Here, an introduction to the impressive women of the 2013 astronaut class.

Christina M. Hammock

After spending winters doing research in Antarctica and Greenland, Christina currently serves as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration station chief in American Samoa. The 34-year-old holds undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering and physics from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, as well as a master's in electrical engineering. She's a NASA alum, having worked as an electrical engineer for the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

Nicole Aunapu Mann

The US Marine Corps major graduated from the US Naval Academy, as well as the US Naval Test Pilot school, and earned her mechanical engineering masters at Stanford University. Nicole is currently the product team lead at the US Naval Air Station in Patuxent River. In addition to her military accomplishments, the 35-year-old was one of the most decorated players in the Navy female soccer league's history.

Nicole was also the 1999 NCAA Woman of the Year in Maryland. She enjoys back country camping, scuba diving, and has over 1400 hours of flight time to her name. "I'm looking forward to working for NASA and join everybody working for the common mission of science exploration," she said.

Major Anne C. McClain

The 34-year-old West Point graduate from Spokane, WA, studied in the United Kingdom and earned masters degrees in public health and international studies. Anne served as a rotary wing pilot and command intelligence officer. She's participated in over 200 combat missions, including Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In addition to graduating US Naval Test Pilot school, Anne is a part of the national women's rugby team, a certified commercial scuba diver, and has more than 1600 hours of flight time under her belt. She was "as excited to tell my mother as I was excited to be selected," and "doesn't remember when I wanted to be something else [other than an astronaut]."

Jessica U. Meir, Ph.D.

"I'm excited about aspects of the training itself, particularly training in the jets and the international components. I love studying different languages and cultures," Jessica said. The 35-year-old from Caribou, ME, has already performed field work at Penguin Ranch in Antarctica and in Mongolia.

Jessica earned a bachelor's in biology, a master's in space studies, and a Ph.D. in marine biology. She's currently an assistant professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School. In addition to her academic merits, Jessica is a private pilot, scuba diver, and experienced ice diver.

(Editor's note: This post was originally published by our partners at GeekSugar.com.) Have you ever been hit by filtered photo regret? You took a memorable photo, but a hasty filter decision left you with an image too vintage and dreamlike.

The Normalize app for iOS ($1) lets you revert your once-oversaturated photos back to their original levels.

Take back the natural look of vacation photos with a quick run through the app. Even handier is that Normalize also doubles as a run-of-the-mill photo enhancer, so when a picture comes out too dark or the white balance is off, the app works double duty to transform the image.

Are there any Instagrammed or filtered photos you'd like to revisit in their original state?